It's the dr. Earth brand. It says it has earth worm castings, soybean meal and fish bone meal.

It's probably a vegetable gardening mix, intended for garden use.....not containers. Those ingredients will not work well, in the long run, as any structure/porosity/coarse texture will very soon disappear within the confines of a container.

You would be far better off if you selected a very porous soilless potting medium without such additives as worm castings, or 'meal' of any kind. Those products collapse in a very short time.

Beckachelle, the ingredients you mentioned are all natural, organic fertilizers and wouldn't affect the drainage or performance of the mix very much, if at all.

I checked Dr Earth products and seems to be several mixes for vegetables, but those I saw are made from bark, aged bark, peat moss and other light ingredients. Are these the ingredients listed on the bag you bought???

Main thing is that it's not a heavy, 'dirt'-based product which would be bad. Oddly, I didn't see perlite listed as an ingredient.

If your mix is made of the bark, aged bark, etc, I think this is okay as a potting mix for all those plants you've planted in it with exception of the sansevieria. The sans would probably be fine if you watch your watering very carefully, keeping it on the dry side, but it would be easier if you repotted it with added perlite. It will drain much better and hold less water. I would go with half Dr Earth mix and half and perlite.

On your other plants, if you see yellowing leaves and are certain you're not underwatering, then the mix is holding too much water and you need to water less often or repot them with added perlite. Maybe 4 or 5 parts of mix and 1 part perlite, not the half and half as with the sans. Experiment to see what works best for you.

Keep us posted.

Russ

If it says 'Home Grown' and 'Vegetable Garden Planting Mix' on the packaging. it's going to be inappropriate for use in containers no matter how much perlite you add to it. The several problems inherent in using it will stem from compaction and excessive water retention. Even a mix containing 75-80% perlite will not provide the type of drainage or aeration plants need to be healthy. Neither will watering in smaller volumes solve the problems because compaction will still occur and watering in small sips ensures all mineral salts from tap water and fertilizers remain in the soil. As the level of salts increases and nutrient ratios become badly skewed, water and nutrient uptake will become increasingly difficult and deficiencies of one nutrient caused by an over-abundance (toxicity) of other nutrients will come into play; and, it's unlikely that flushing the soil on a regular basis to prevent salt build-up would be an effective strategy.

Al

It's not Vegetable Garden Planting Mix.

Thank you everyone for your answers! I'll just use a different soil and repot them all.

Most off-the-shelf soils based on peat, compost, composted forest products, coir, and/or other fine ingredients are more difficult to grow in due to inherent issues related to excess water retention. Mixing a LOT of perlite into your medium can be somewhat helpful at reducing o/a water retention, but doesn't help significantly with better drainage or aeration. Using a soil based on pine bark (if you can find one) or adding a very large fraction of pine bark to an off-the-shelf soil + a little lime can make things much easier for you and your plants. Soils with lots of large air pores that don't stay saturated for extended intervals after watering offer your plants far greater opportunity to realize their genetic potential. Every plant is genetically capable of becoming a beautiful specimen, as long as we do our jobs and eliminate the things that limit them. Poor root health due to conditions in the root zone is responsible for more requests for help on the container gardening related forums than any other single malady.

Best luck.

Al